Florida takes Birmingham Bowl over East Carolina
On the same day new Florida coach Jim McElwain said he was free to transfer to another school, Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel potentially ended his Gator career on the field during a win.
Driskel replaced Treon Harris after Harris was hurt in the second half of the Birmingham Bowl and got the game-clinching first down in Florida's 28-20 win over East Carolina.
Driskel, a redshirt junior, began the season as Florida's starting quarterback and was largely ineffective as the Gators' offense struggled. He was replaced by Harris, a freshman, midway through the season and rarely saw the field since the switch was made.
The change led to rumors that Driskel would be a graduate transfer in 2015, and before he potentially moves on he got one more opportunity to get a win as a Florida player.
As East Carolina was driving for a potential game-tying score and two-point conversion, Florida CB Vernon Hargreaves intercepted ECU QB Shane Carden in the end zone with 1:20 to go. However, ECU had all three timeouts remaining, so Florida needed to get a first down to salt the game away. On third-and-four, Driskel kept the ball on a play-action bootleg and got more than enough yards to clinch the game.
Much like many times in his Florida career, Driskel's stats were ugly despite the win. He finished 8-17 passing for 48 yards and had seven total rushing yards.
Before Hargreaves' interception, ECU had moved inside the 10 thanks to some incredible luck on a fumble. After Isaiah Jones caught a pass, he lost the ball, which was inadvertently kicked forward by a Florida player trying to recover the ball. And as Hargreaves sprinted after the ball, which was recovered by an ECU player, he ran into the umpire.
ECU ran 101 offensive plays in the game but was hurt by Carden's two interceptions. While his second tossed away ECU's chances for a win, his first, which came in the first quarter, was returned 29 yards for a touchdown by Brian Poole.
Florida's leading rusher was freshman Adam Lane, who had 16 carries for 109 yards after entering the game with eight career carries. After his touchdown in the second quarter, Lane was surrounded by Florida staffers carrying towels after he had a stain on his pants.
For more ECU news visit PirateIllustrated.com.
For more Florida news visit InsideTheGators.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
